I Love You
by Karen Hikari
Summary: She'd almost lost him. For a moment she had... feared so deeply that he might not make it... He was strong, he sure was. He was one of the strongest demigods she knew and yet... going through Tartarus... completely alone... It seemed simply too much for someone –for anyone– to handle. And yet, here he was–pale, frail-looking, exhausted, but alive. That was when she broke down.


**Hi again! You'll see... finals are coming! Yeah... finals... During the whole week I've hardly had any time to read or write, everything in my mind are projects and study guids, but I still managed to write this down so I could relax myself a little.**

 **You see, this popped right after I finished reading The Mark of Athena, I had managed to spoil myself the part in which (Oh! By the way! The Mark of Athena spoilers from now on!) Percabeth is thrown into Tartarus, so that wasn't much of a surprise, but during the whole book I was dying to know what had happened to Nico! I was worried to death (no pun intended)!**

 **So, when I started reading The House of Hades and realized that this idea could be canon I decided to write it down.**

 **I really don't know how dis turned out, so I would really appreciate it if you told me your opinion!**

 **Thanks for reading anyways!**

* * *

 ** _I Love You_**

* * *

Percy and Annabeth had just fallen into Tartarus.

The remaining demigods in the Argo II had hurried to get into the ship, wanting to get away of that cursed place as fast as possible.

But now, the Tartarus and Rome were already some miles away, and all the seven of them could do was helplessly stare at each other.

Hazel was in the verge of tears, and she was aware that the same could be said for Piper and Frank.

Leo continued to endlessly talk about something, but she was certain not even him knew what he was saying, trying to direct the group's attention to something other than their missing friends. Jason had a confused look fixed in his features, as if he was unsure about what he was expected to do.

Even coach Hedge was acting awkwardly, stopping himself not from yelling, but from speaking all together.

And as for Nico... her brother seemed shaken by the loss of the two heroes, but the son of Hades had also some problems of his very own.

She shuddered slightly. Nico's skin had always been pale, so pale the first time she'd seen him she had wondered if it was true that they were relatives, but right now, the boy looked paler than usual, a color almost greenish in his features, his eyes sunken, and his movements so slow it seemed he didn't even have the energy to talk in a normal tone of voice or move around, which, she realized, was nothing but the truth. He urgently nedeed to eat something and sleep, preferably, in that order.

She distantly decided she could do nothing about the two demigods that had fallen into Tartarus, but she could certainly do something about her brother's needs. First things first, Hazel thought bitterly, while she wished the thought of her lost friends aside.

She awkwardly cleared her throat, driving everyone's attention to her, especially Nico's, who turned to look at her slowly, his sunken eyes completely emotionless.

"I–" she started quietly. "I think you should sleep. And eat something" she whispered, feeling her heart fill with heaviness just as the other demigods placed their eyes filled with sorrow in her. "C'mon, you can use my room" she added.

The others nodded distantly, as if they agreed, but chances were the only thing they were all certain about was that no-one was getting a proper rest until they knew the conditions in which their friends were.

Nico started to argue something, but his voice was so faint that she could hardly make out the words. She simply dismissed him by denying with her head.

Hazel kindly took his wrist and guided him through the deck of the ship and to the bedrooms.

She walked past six of the rooms that were meant for the Children of the Prophecy and the one from coach Hedge until she finally reached hers.

Since the ship had been constructed long before they even knew who the Seven were, most of the rooms only counted with a simple bed dressed up white sheets, and an empty desk with a simple chair.

So many things had happened since they'd left Camp Jupiter –the way in which they'd abandoned the camp to start with– that Hazel hadn't even had time to _think_ of redecorating her room. It had a comfortable bed were to lay herself on when she even had the opportunity, and she didn't dare ask more.

She absently opened the wooden door and led her brother inside freeing his right wrist from her grip. He silently walked in, too tired to even argue with his sister.

He raised his eyes to meet her gaze, those empty, tired dark-brown eyes that stared at her emotionlessly. She tried to refrain a shudder but wasn't completely successful.

"Here, you–" she stuttered nervously, smiling at him with a pained expression. "Stay here, m-make yourself at home and I'll–I'll get you something to eat..." she murmured quietly.

He nodded distantly, and she couldn't help but notice how tired, how utterly exhausted, he seemed.

She left the room silently, without daring to meet his eyes.

Hazel directed herself to the dining room, taking one of the magic plates that made whatever food you wished for appear instantly and after asking herself what should she summon for her brother for a couple of minutes and mentally scolding herself for not knowing what he might like, she finally wished for a simple sandwich and then proceeded to pour water into a glass she'd previously taken from a cupboard.

She absently guided herself back to the room, opening the door as silently as she could, trying not to startle her brother, which proved a wise thing to do, since when she finally stepped inside she came to realize that Nico was already sound asleep, without having even bothered to pull the cover over him, having simply pushed it aside instead.

She sighed, fondness shining brightly in her eyes. For a moment she considered waking him up, since he was in serious need of eating something, something other than pomegranate seeds and that was actual food, but she finally decided that it was nonsense.

Yes, he was skinnier than ever, and he most certainly could use the food, but he also looked far from exhausted, and it didn't seem fair for her to wake him up right after he could finally get some sleep.

In the end, she decided upon letting him sleep, so she silently walked up to the desk and left both the plate and the glass over the table, pulling the chair to the side of the bed right after, so she could sit down and stare at the unconscious figure of her brother.

That was probably not her best idea.

She couldn't help but notice, yet again, how thin he was, how pale, how skinny, how deep the bags under his eyes were, how...

She'd almost lost him.

For a moment she had... she had feared so deeply that he might not make it... He was strong, he sure was. He was one of the strongest demigods she knew and yet... going through Tartarus... completely alone...

It seemed simply too much for someone –for anyone– to handle. And yet, here he was–pale, frail-looking, exhausted, but _alive_.

She'd recovered her brother, and she was far from thankful for that, but the whole crew of the Argo had lost someone else, and not just one, but two of their teammates. Two of the most powerful and strong demigods Hazel had ever met.

That was when she broke down.

They were gone. Percy and Annabeth were gone. Nico was back but the earth had swallowed the son of Poseidon and the daughter of Athena. And Nico was just barely alive... He looked so... cadaveric... if it were not for the slow –very slow for her taste– raising and falling of his chest she might have as well mistaken him for a dead person.

The simple thought froze her. That boy, that pale, exhausted, death-like boy was her only family, the one and only person on earth who had offered her a helping hand without expecting anything in return.

Nico had had no responsibility to help her and bring her back, but he'd done it, so selflessly that she was still surprised from time to time that someone who'd already gone through so much –not counting Tartarus because he hadn't gone through _that_ when they'd first met– was willing to step out of his way just to help _her_ , a complete and utter stranger.

But he'd done. He was the only reason she had a new opportunity, a new life; everything she had she owned it to that boy, the one who had nearly died just some scarce hours earlier and that didn't quite look much better then.

Gone. Nico could've been dead by then. Dead. Her brother had almost died. And now Annabeth and Percy were falling into the exact same place Nico had almost died in. Dead. Death was everywhere, that was all she could actually think of.

She was not even sure about when she stared crying. She had just been there, next to her brother, looking down at his emaciated form and next thing she knew was that she was covered in tears, trying desperately to stop her whimpering because she didn't want to wake up her brother, but only managing labored hiccups and muffled sobs.

–*–*–

As soon as Hazel left the room, Nico gave it a quick glance. If time had been a different he might have called Hazel's attention on how this room seemed quite different from her usual style, very... minimalistic, to say the least, but he was too tired for really caring about what the room looked like, his attention caught on the fact that it had a bed and that it was the only important thing.

His stubborn side wanted to tell Hazel that he was perfectly fine and that he didn't need to sleep, but his realistic one was aware that that was mere bullshit, white lies he was trying to tell himself but that he was not even buying. He robotically directed himself to the humble bed, almost forgetting to take out his shoes before falling flatly on it. He sighed quietly, aware that this was the first time in more than a week that he could fully stretch himself. He was asleep before he even knew it.

What woke him up some time after were sobs. He opened his eyes tiredly, half-expecting the whimpers to be his, but he soon found they were not, as he raised his eyes to Hazel sitting in the side of the bed, tears striking down her face.

Despite the tiredness that had possessed his whole body, he felt an unfamiliar tugging in his chest, something that wasn't completely nice but that wasn't completely negative either–something between concern and anger. Concern for his sister, anger towards the reason that had pulled her into this state: the usually bright, innocent girl he remembered sobbing desperately.

"Haz..." he murmured faintly, his voice drifting off pathetically before he could even make out her full name.

She raised her eyes, violently, as if she had been surprised steeling or something and tried to come out with a lie to explain her behavior.

"Nico!" she murmured, rapidly raising her hands to dry up her eyes, though it proved useless, as she continued crying. "I'm-I'm sorry I woke you up" she added quietly. "I–"

She was interrupted when Nico tried to sit down on the bed, fruitlessly, as his strength was gone and all he could do was fall again in the mattress. Hazel hurried to stand up and sit by his side, holding him firmly as if she feared he was in risk of falling down the bed and hurting himself.

He was just about to mutter a 'Thank you' when they met gazes. Hazel had such a sorrowful expression fixed upon her features...

They stared into each other's eyes for a moment, his dark-brown orbs hazed with confusion, hers blurred with tears.

He was about to ask her what was wrong –apart from the fact that Annabeth and Percy had fallen into Tartarus– when she rushed herself forward, encircling his shoulders and burying her face into his hair, renewing her crying.

"I thought I'd lost you" she murmured sorrowfully, her back trembling violently.

He was almost taken aback by her actions, not having expected to _ever_ see her crying with such grief. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that he didn't _want_ to see her doing it.

"What are you..?" he started, just to be cut off by her cracking voice.

"I thought I'd lost you" Hazel repeated, crying even harder. "You were gone and then Gaea said that you... that you would die and I..." her voice trailed off, as even stronger sobs made her back tremble.

He could feel her desperately trying to calm herself down, taking deep breaths and then holding them, in a useless attempt to stop her whimpering.

She hugged him to her chest tightly, almost clinging to him, as if the mere fact of feeling him there, of simply touching him comforted her, which came out to be the truth for Hazel, but he had no way of knowing that.

When she finally talked again, her voice didn't sound as cracked as before, but it was filled with the exact same amount of pain.

"I couldn't afford losing you" she assured. "I _can't_ afford losing you. You're my only family, you know?" she murmured quietly. "I can't lose you… Please."

Nico was tempted to point out that he'd noticed how she stared to that Asian boy, Frank or whatever, and that he was pretty certain she was well-liked by the others, but he stopped himself just in time.

"I thought... I thought I'd lost you..." she repeated, with a trembling voice.

She continued to cry into his hair, taking deep breaths as if to calm herself down, but with few to no results.

"Please" she whispered, her voice muffled by his hair. "Don't leave me. Just... please" she whispered. "I–I missed you."

They felt silent after that, with Nico not knowing what to say or if his sister was even expecting an answer and Hazel trying to get a hold of herself.

Nico hadn't even moved, letting her hold him while she murmured "I'm sorry's" to no end. A part of him simply wanted to ask her why would she cry like that, why would someone, anyone, be so... relieved of seeing him, but he felt so tired and so energy depraved that he could only rest his head on her shoulder, feeling her body shake every once in a while, not even managing the strength to tell her something.

It took the girl probably more than fifteen minutes, but she finally managed to stop her tears, leaving only occasional hiccups behind.

By then, Hazel thought that Nico had fallen asleep again, and she inwardly thanked the gods for that –that boy was really sleep depraved after all, and she really didn't want him to see her like that, so… weak-looking. At the very same time she was also scolding herself for having allowed such a breakdown in front of her brother.

That was the one person who she had to make proud of her, and that boy had just survived Tartarus _alone_ , whatever she was feeling must have been nothing compared to that.

She took one last deep breath, as she slowly raised to her feet, carefully holding Nico's unconscious body up so she could jump out of the bed and then carefully placing his head over the pillow.

When she was standing again, she sighed heavily, looking down at her brother once again, trying to find in his emaciated features any trace of the brave boy that had taken her out from the Asphodels. Her vision blurred again with tears, but she stubbornly blinked them away.

"We'll make it through" she whispered into the darkness with a shaky voice, as if to convince herself too. "You'll get better. Everything will get better" she promised. "We're gonna be alright and we'll defeat Gaea. We will I-I promise" she said, her voice a bit too loud at first and then almost a whisper.

She sighed once more, biting her lower lip. No, she decided, she was not lying just to make herself feel better in a moment of distress. What she'd just said was true. They _were_ going to win this war, they _were_ going to defeat Gaea–there was no other option.

She took one last deep breath as she silently turned on her heels to leave to room, sending one final glance to her brother and allowing herself the ghost of a smile before closing the door behind her.

Meanwhile, Nico faked he was asleep when he felt her hop out of the bed and then walk to the door.

He also faked he hadn't heard her when she whispered "I love you" into the darkness before closing the door behind her lean figure, her voice filled with the fondness he didn't even dare _hope_ someone would ever talk to him.

With his sister's sweet voice still ringing in his ears he finally allowed himself to fall asleep again.

* * *

 **So... how did this go?**

 **You'll see, when I was writing it down I thought like a million times about how shitty it was turning out to be, but when I read it again to check it I didn't think it was that bad anymore, so I finally published.**

 **A friend said it has a bit of OOC in Hazel's side, but the idea that first came into view when planning this was of Hazel crying while holding her brotehr, so I couldn't keep that away.**

 **Plaese, I really need you to tell me what do you think over this because I'm still wary of it!**

 **Love you all! Thanks for reading!**


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